Advertising device or toy.



No. 673,959. Patented May l4, I901.

a C. LECHTMAN.

ADVERTQSING DEVICE 0R TOY.

(Application filed Sept. 11, 1899. Regewed Jan. 21, 1901.)

' (No Model.)

llTTnn STATES PATE T OFFICE.

CUSIL LECHTMAN, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

ADVERTISING DEVICE OR TOY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 673,959, dated May 14, 1901.

Application filed September 11. 1899. Renewed January 21, 1901. Serial No. 44,178; No model.)

To (tZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, OUSIL LEOHTMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kansas City, county of Jackson, State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Advertising Devices or Toys, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of advertising devices or toys in which attention is attracted to a card or tablet containing an inscription, forming the advertising matter, by causing such card by mechanical means to perform some unexpected or startling movement.

Considered as a toy, my invention furnishes amusement by the sudden and unforeseen collapse of the device and projection of the card into the air, the amusing effect of which may be increased by the employment of a comical or facetious inscription on the card.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents the device in a state of collapse. Fig. 2 shows it wound up, ready to be sprung. Fig. 3 is a detached view of the metal spring. Figs. 4 and 5 show the rubber bands employed in a state of collapse. Fig. 6 isa detached view of the advertising-card.

The parts may be of any desired size, but are preferably made small enough to be readily inclosed in an ordinary business-envelop.

A designates a bow of ordinary spring-wire, having its ends bent up to form hooks or eyelets a a for the attachment of the rubber bands.

B is a rectangular card or tablet, of cardboard, metal, or any preferred material, provided with a perforation at each end for the attachment of the elastic bands 0.

O C are preferably ordinary stationers rubber bands, which are employed to form the elastic connections at each end between the card and the metal spring.

To operate the device, the parts are first connected together, as shown in Fig. 1, the rubber rings being passed through the holes in the card and afterward both ends of the same caught into the hooks a a at the end of the bow, Fig. 6, which hooks should then be bent up to form eyelets, as in Figs. 1 and 2, to hold the bands so that they will not slip out. The card is now rotated over and over on the line of the rubber bands as an axis, the metal spring being firmly held. The result is to twist the rubber bands, thus shortening them and drawing in the ends of the metal spring A, subjecting all the parts to considerable tension, as shown in Fig. 2. The device is now laid upon a sheet of paper or inclosed in a letter of correspondence, being held meanwhile from collapsing, and the margins of the paper folded over it, but left free to be readily unfolded. The package thus formed is then placed within an envelop and the latter sealed up. The resistance of the wrapper and envelop is sufficient to overcome the tension of the parts of the device, so that it will not collapse until freed from such resistance. The package, prepared as described, may then be passed from hand or sent through the mail. The person receiving it naturally opens the envelop and takes out the device inclosed in its wrapper. On removing the wrapper, and consequently all resistance to the operation of the device, the tension of the spring and twisted elastic bands causes the device to suddenly collapse, the bands untwisting and the metal spring resuming its normal condition. The result is usually to cause the device to fly out suddenly from the wrapper with a whirring noise, caused by the beating of the rotating edge of the card against the paper wrapper, and to be projected a considerable distance into the air. The effect upon a person not familiar with the device is quite startling, and if done in presence of a company is sure to cause considerable amusement, usually at the expense of the victim of the joke. Attention is of course attracted to the inscription placed on the card, which may be of a facetious or other preferred character, usually including a business advertisement or address.

It is obvious that instead of two elastic bands, one at each end of the card, a single band may be employed, extending across from one extremity of the spring to the other,with the card secured to the central portion of the band in anypreferred manner.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

An advertising device or toy, comprising an elastic bow A having an eyelet a formed in each end thereof, a rectangular card B provided with perforations b in opposite ends In testimony whereof I affi'x my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

GUSIL LECHTMAN.

thereof, and elastic bands 0 passing through 5 the perforations in the card and the eyelets Vii-messes:

of the bow, substantially as shown and speci- B. BARK, fied. F. A. SPENCER. 

